TWME 2023: Jassim Al Awadhi Exclusive Interview

In this interview conducted at the latest Telecom's World Middle East event, the focus was on AI and its impact on the telecommunications industry. The interviewee, Jassim Al Awadhi - the Chief ICC Officer at Du - provided insights into their role and how they address markets beyond traditional voice and data, offering services such as IoT, data centre cloud, AI capabilities, and more.

Jasmin expressed excitement about the industry's advancements in AI and shared a specific use case where their AI-powered avatar accurately predicted the outcome of a tournament. He discussed the potential of AI, highlighting it as an opportunity rather than a threat, drawing parallels to the past industrial revolution that created new job opportunities.

The interview delved into the UAE's position as a conducive environment for businesses, with the right leadership, regulations, and infrastructure to support diverse industries. Jasmin also discussed the transition of telcos into technology-driven companies and how they leverage their customer databases and relationships to capitalise on emerging technologies like Fintech.

The importance of 5G in enabling AI, Industry 4.0, and digital transformation initiatives was emphasised, as it addresses the latency and bandwidth challenges of previous generations. Jasmin highlighted the company's readiness in embracing AI, citing their early adoption and successful implementation of AI use cases.

The interview concluded with a reflection on the unpredictability of future technologies, the need for agility and adaptability, and the company's commitment to exploring and implementing new technologies for the benefit of their business and society.

Overall, the interview provided insights into the company's perspective on AI, its impact on the telecommunications industry, the UAE's supportive ecosystem, and the importance of 5G in driving digital transformation.

“The new generation is the generation that we should not underestimate... They are the generation that saw the iPad and they didn't see the PCs."

“We need to design ourselves to be agile, to adapt... We are ready to explore any new technology and implement it in our business."